Universal Time Standard
The concept of Universal Standard Time, also known as Coordinated Standard Time (UTC), Earth Time, or simply 'Standard Time' is the way that the UEG keeps time on an interstellar scale. Description Standard Time was originally known as (and still is) known as Greenwich Mean Time based on the International Date Line on Earth. Before the advent of space travel for Humanity in the mid-20th Century, nations set their clocks to a 24-hour day, though many did, and still do use 12 hour half days repeated twice. Standard time was used to properly divide the world into time zones which helped facilitate approximation of what time was going on compared to other geographical points on the planet. For time zones, Greenwhich Mean Time is 0 on the UTC scale. depending on how far away from the IDL, nations were believed to either be 'before' or 'behind' the UTC. For example, it is 12 AM in Greenwhich, England. New York is placed at -5 UTC, so if it is 12 AM in England, it is 7 PM in New York. On the flip side, Beijing in China is +10 UTC, meaning that it would be 10 AM there. It was simple to work on Earth, but it got exponentially more difficult to keep accurate time once one headed into space. Before the advent of Slipspace in 2290, multiple theories were put into place regarding what a 'day' was once Humanity got off Earth. By definition, a 'day' corresponds to a celestial object's full rotation. The odds of being on a planet with a 24-hour day was extremely unlikely. Even more problematic was to define a 'year'. A year is the time it takes for a celestial body to complete a full revolution around its host star or in the case of a moon, its host planet. Years for planets varied greatly even throughout the Sol system alone. Mercury for example has a revolution of 88 days, meaning that a person could 'age' four Mercurian 'years' compared to 'one' Earth year. This presented plenty of problems for Humanity, as the vast difference of days and years could affect a coordinated system of worlds. Multiple experiments and models were presented in how to measure such a time system. Things like the 'Atomic Calendar' were proposed, an analogue to 'Stardates' like the ones used in Star Trek was brought forward, and the concept of a local time system were also brought up. Eventually, a choice was made. the Universal Time Standard today actually refers to not one, but two systems. The first is the concept of the Standard Calendar, and the second is the concept of the Local Calendar. Standard Calendar Sometimes referred to as the 'Military Calendar', the Standard Calendar was based on the concept of an Earth day and an Earth year. This system states that a day is 24 hours and made up of sixty standard seconds no matter where one is on any planet or any moon. The same system also states that year is 365 of these 24 hour days no matter where in the universe one was. The Standard Calendar recieved fame as the 'Military Calendar' due to the fact that all UNSC ships operated on a 24 hour day. This was particularly useful since in space aboard a starship that commonly travels in Slipspace, days and years usually mean nothing anyway, but some form of timekeeping must be in place. Thus, a 24 hour clock seemed like an excellent choice because of tradition and convenience. People operating under the Standard Calendar on planets that had days clearly longer than 24 hours faced a peculiarity with the system. Since the Standard Calendar states that a day is 24 hours long no matter where one is in the universe, and days are not homogenous, days would actually change at any given time of the day. For example, on Constance, which has a local day length of 18 hours, December 31st would change into January 1st at 6 o'clock in the morning. January 2nd would come at four in the evening, and so on. This was the only major con that the Standard Calendar would face. A standard year was actually much better recieved by other people than a day. Some planetary populations like to use the Standard system, especially those that focus on trade with other planets, since the Standard system was used on virtually all spacecraft. News reports are also commonly dated in Standard which gives a universal reference point by others. While these could be translated into local dates, the calendar actually brings together some form of unity among people. Planets that use Standard dating typically hold it as a traditional thing that keeps them attached to their homelands. Thanks to advanced Slipspace travel techniques, especially those gleamed from reverse-engineering Forerunner technology, it was easy to pinpoint an exact time from any given place. A Time Check for planets would occur every now and again when freighters drop out of Slipspace and communicate with one another and the ground crews they would see. This would help coordinate time relative to the freighter, and time relative to the observer. If the time was in check, everything would proceed. If time was off, time was then adjusted to the ship at the last time check. Usually though, checks pass and the given planet's year goes unaffected. Only one check was made per year to avoid having the year jump all over the place, and usually, a check was, on average, off by only a few hours. 24 hour clocks were useful on planets approaching Earth-like days and years. They are also strangely popular on planets with very long days. For example, Tears of Piety has a 42 hour day, so multiple sleep cycles were gone through. Bases operated on 24 hour time, complete with an eight hour rest period. The Standard Calendar utilizes the Common Era attachment (Ex. CE 3239, or 3239 CE). Some prefer to use the Anno Domini association (AD 3239, or 3239 AD) to refer to the time that Christ walked the earth. The Standard Calendar uses a 12 month system based on the time it takes for the moon to complete its revolution around the Earth. These months are made up of seven days - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Whether the week begins on Sunday or Monday is a deeply personal matter and mystery that will never be solved. Local Calendar Compared to the Standard Calendar, the Local Calendar did not focus on Humanity as a whole, but instead focused on individual planets. This system treats a day as an individual thing that is specific to the planet that a person is on at any given time. While second were generally accepted along with hours and minutes, days were a different matter entirely. The Local Calendar answers the problem of a day by simply having the planet's calendar follow the natural day-night cycles. The Local Calendar also answers a problem of a year by simply having the revolution of the planet. On the surface, this seems to be a vastly more convenient system to use since people wouldn't have to conform to a singular calender. This isn't exactly the case. Usages of Local Calendars means that if every planet in a solar system is colonized, then every one will have its own unique calendar and own unique system of timekeeping. While this is indeed the case for planets that do not follow the UTC system, individuals from one planet find it extremely alienating to go to another planet and have to learn and try to convert to a new calendar. Age has also become something of an issue when Local Calendars come into play. Since a year is defined as the time it takes for a planet to revolve around its sun. Some years for planets may be incredibly small or incredibly large. Mercury comes up again in short term years, but the planet Oriani has a revolution of 215 local days, which translates to almost 3 years of Standard Time. A child from Oriani will be three Earth years old before they have been considered one year old back home. This leads to confusion when individuals from two cultures collide. Planets generally have a month system in place as well. Using local calendars, the definition of a month still stands. A moon is measured in the time it takes to revolve. That creates a month. If a planet has multiple moons, than the largest us used for gauging a month out of convenience. Planets without moons though have a problem, since without a moon to gauge a month, a vital part of timekeeping is missing. These planets work around it by sometimes eschewing months entirely, and sometimes arbitrarily dividing up a year with artificially created months. The vast majority have Earth months out of tradition, though some planets have different styles. One of the most popular alternate month system is the Japanese style of simply numbering months. Moons are even more difficult to have a Local calendar for. Some moons are tidally locked to their respective planet. So a different system is put into place. Moons operating on Local time do not themselves have days. Instead, they take the time of the planet they are orbiting. Months are still determined by the time it takes for the moon to go around the planet, and the year is taken from the host planet. This has led to a strange Standard/Local fusion where colonized moons around gas giants have a 'universal time' since every moon takes the rotation of the gas giant, rather than their own. Moons that do rotate though can have their own days and such. Years however are still tied to the host planet. In the Local calendar, years are numbered mainly after the first colony vessels landed on the body where people reside. The landing date is commonly referred to as 'Year Zero'. Sometimes a title is given to the event, such as 'After Landing', 'Post Landing', 'After Arrival', or even 'Post Planetfall'. An example of this year system would be 10:20 AM, 12 January, 12 AL. The year states that it has been 12 years since the first colony vessel landed on the planet in question. Weeks are arbitrary, and sometimes may not even be included in Local Calendars. The obvious flaws are aware to those why trust Local Time. To compromise and have some sense of chronological unity, 99% of Human worlds use both Local Time and Universal Time at the same time. This allows a sense of placement in interstellar society, and it keeps the individuality of the planet intact. Time zones exist in Local calendars. just like on Earth, they are divided up and an international date line is chosen based on where the key colony or capital is located. Category:Lore